Thursday, August 20, 2009

Since my last bus post was so whiny I thought I’d talk about a few little things that make me smile:

Willingness to go the distance. I loved this. A young couple prepared to get off a few blocks away but when another rider rang the bell for a closer stop they decided to debus with her and walk the extra few feet. It was so reasonable I wanted to chase them down and hug them.

Unexpected teenaged politeness. Somehow, riding the bus turns even the most unsmiling punk of a kid into a finishing school grad, saying crazy things like, “good morning,” and, “thank you, sir.” Sure, they get off and immediately throw their candy wrappers on the ground, but…

Superheroes among us. 1) Recently, I noticed a very normal looking girl humming something familiar in a very determined way. She pulled the cord and as her stop approached the humming got louder and I recognized the (original John Williams) Superman theme. She stood and went to the door, singing in crescendo all the way, and when it opened, she leapt out, fist in the air, and ran. 2) From time to time as the bus is passing the downtown SUNY campus I will spot a gentleman I can only describe as a character. He has a CHiPs-style helmet of shoe polished hair and wears fashionable matching tracksuits for his morning jogs. Thing is, he’s always jogging backwards. Sometimes even with a toothpick dangling from his lips. I can only assume that he is attempting to jog back to the ‘70s.